A Threat Beyond Our Knowledge
by SkyminSlash
Summary: At a time when the RED's had an unexpected guest, Gray attacked, and was able to easily take control of Mann Co. Now two months later, a plan is finally set in motion to reunite the team, but with the mercenaries scattered across the world, they're going to need some help locating them. The sequel to The New Arrival.
1. Chapter 1

**After months of procrastination, lost chapters and lack of motivation, I finally deemed this acceptable to release. I had begun planning this before The New Arrival was finished, and unlike it, A Threat Beyond Our Knowledge has a completed story, it's just not all written. Originally, I was going to finish the entire story and then upload it, but lack of motivation has only caused about half of it to be written. I'm honestly hoping I can get some motivation to write the rest of it.**

**There's a projection of around 16 chapters, though that may change depending on how long some of them drag on. No consistent upload schedule, so don't be anticipating one every week. It all depends on when I write a chapter. I like to be ahead. **

**Author's notes won't be so long, that's a personal goal, but I will be needing to point a few things out, since this was planned before some of the comics were released, so please don't compare certain things to the comics, which essentially is the same story concept.**

**Without further ado, I present to you, the sequel to The New Arrival!**

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><p><strong>A Threat Beyond Our Knowledge<strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Alive<strong>

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><p>Worn leather shoes moved across the dusty linoleum, making their way through the dimly lit hall of an abandoned base. The man, took in sharp breaths as he ran through the building.<p>

The air around him was unfamiliar. Before, it had felt like a safe haven, a place away from the everyday battles. Now, the place felt unfamiliar and uninviting. He knew he wasn't welcomed here, but he had to come.

After living in the base, on and off, for six years, the man knew the building like the back of his hand. Navigating through it was a cinch.

He flew around the corners, making sure to tread lightly as a caution not to alert any of the guards. The Texan might not have been as stealthy as his former teammate was, but he felt like he was doing a damn good job of sneaking around.

Passing by what use to be each of their rooms, he muttered each of them to himself

_Medic, Scout, Pyro, Soldier, Demoman, Heavy, Spy, Sniper…finally. My Workshop._

Grabbing the knob, a layer of dust clung to his glove as he tried to turn it. It was locked.

Frustrated, he pounded against the door, but soon realized his mistake as he heard the sound of metal clinking against the floor.

"Damn it!" he screamed.

With no other choice, he backed up and raised his leg. With as much force as he could muster, he kicked the door, making it fling open with a crack of the lock.

Rushing inside, the man ran to a barren wall, and pushed a table aside, essentially throwing it. He had to hurry before they caught him.

The faint outline of a small door was visible with a tiny little latch. Pulling it open, the man hurried through the tiny opening to a room behind a workshop that, for years, he had believed to be a secret to everyone but himself.

Not two months ago, he found out what a lie that was.

Against each wall were computer terminals lined up side by side. On the opposite end sat a mechanical masterpiece.

Wires connected from each computer to the chamber, whose door was sealed shut. The machine was a piece of work to look at, which still struck its creator in awe.

Moving between each terminal, the Texan powering them on. Lights flashed, motors started up and screens slowly flickered on.

Anxiety filled the man, as he could hear the guards getting closer.

"Come on, come on…" he said, as he tapped a screen.

RECHARGING POWER: 2%

"Damn it!"

The machine was going to take too long. He kicked the terminal, which gave a small sputter in response. Thinking that all was lost, he quickly remembered the last time it was used. It was in a situation similar to this, except he would be teleporting himself this time.

Fingers flying across the keyboard, he input commands, hacking into the town's power grid. The Texan rerouted all the power to this one machine, which was just enough to give it one teleport.

RECHARGE COMPLETE

The chamber whirled to life, with a faint red glow visible behind the small window on the door. Typing once more, the man rushed to input the correct commands.

He could hear the guards. They had already gotten into the workshop, and were searching for him. It was only a matter of time before their processors recognized the small door.

Finished, he tapped a key, and the chamber door slid open, revealing the innards that were covered in the unnatural red glow.

Stepping into the chamber, the man could see a robot sliding through the small door, its glowing eyes fixated on his position.

_**INTRUDER!**_

The chamber door sliding shut, the guard made its way to the Texan, but just as it got near, the man vanished.

With the trespasser gone, all the guard had to do was investigate the scene, figure out where he went to. Its eyes were quick to notice the terminal the man had been typing on. With heavy footsteps clinking against the ground, it walked over to it, making sure to keep its eye sight focused on the screen.

Sitting in his control room, an elderly man stared at one of the many monitors. Bllack and white, each one showed the vision of his creations. Staring at the Teufort camera, his eyes narrowed.

All the man could think of, was anger. Why hadn't he gotten rid of those pesky mercenaries when he had the chance? Surely he wasn't as idiotic as his two brothers had been. He had managed to kill them and taken over Mann co. the number one weapon and hat manufacturers in the world, so how could he be so stupid as to not kill the mercenaries that had protected Mann co. and TF Industries.

Was it that he had some shred of humanity?

Of course not, if he had no regrets in killing his two idiot brothers, then why would he for a bunch of insane killers? This had simply been an oversight. Albeit, a really stupid one.

The smartest of the 9 had broken free and had left their world.

The grey haired man kept his eyes trained on the screen, reading the words in his mind, over and over, devising a plan.

DESTINATION: BEE CAVE, TEXAS


	2. Chapter 2

**Looks like I forgot to give the last chapter a name. I'll go back and fix that.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Help is Needed<strong>

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><p><em>Tick, tick<em>

For both her students and herself, the clock was moving too slowly. Angela Patterson loathed her job just as much as her students loathed her.

When asked what she was planning on doing after college, her last response would have been teaching a bunch of bratty high school kid's calculus. As much as she complained, she couldn't argue that it wasn't a decent paying job, but the teenagers were almost too much to handle.

Every day she would have to yell at them to quiet down and do their work, but like always, they would continue their insistent chatter instead of working on the problems she assigned them. Though, like all professionals, she never showed her true feelings.

Standing up and explaining was also something she detested, but seeing as how she was already on thin ice with the Administration, she had to do her best in teaching her students.

"Now to do this on the calculator, all you have to do is-"

_**Beep!**_

It was yet another interruption. Angela was not the type of woman that appreciated being interrupted.

With a barely audible groan, she answered, "Yes?" in a tone of irritation.

"Would you send May Flowers up to the office please?" the woman said over the intercom.

"On her way," she responded.

With a click, the intercom had shut off, and Angela looked at the student that was called. It seemed as though she had a confused look, like she didn't know what was going on, but that was none of her concern.

As her student walked out, Angela continued with the lesson.

The teenage girl walked through the halls of Bee Cave High School. While it was nowhere as big as the previous schools she had attended, it was still impressive for a town as small as it was.

The school year was still early and though she had acclimated to the new school, it still didn't feel right. As reluctant as she had been to moving to the small Texas town, she wasn't as reluctant to try and make friends. With all of hers back home, May had to make some local ones. The problem was that it was hard to make friends with people who didn't share similar interest.

As for why she was on her way to the front office, she had no clue. May didn't remember her parents telling her anything about a doctor's appointment or family matter. Besides, her mother was out of town and her father was at work. What was happening, she had no idea.s

Nearing the office, May looked in through the windows and saw something bright yellow between the shelves of a bookcase. She stopped for a second to give it a second look. It moved, and looked like it was on someone's hand. The only thing it could be, she thought, was a glove, but who would wear a yellow glove outside of the-. May dashed for the door, her breath held as she neared the office.

Was it possible he had survived?

Reaching the door, she saw him standing there. He looked just as he had before the teleportation, except he lacked the hard hat and goggles. He wasn't injured or anything, he was all there. The Engineer had survived.

Her hand on the door, she paused, letting the relief flow. The last time she saw him, or any of the other mercenaries, was right before she was sent back to her own world. May's final glimpse of their world, was the Engineer falling to the ground, with bullets pierced through his chest.

With respawn down, she thought the Engineer would have surely failed to recover from the wound before it turned back on. Evidently, that wasn't the case.

Mind in a scramble, May wasn't sure what to think, but she knew one thing for sure. She was happy to see him alive again. Door flung back, she entered the front office, with total disbelief on her face.

She was stammering, unable to form a complete sentence.

"Hey May, ready to go?" he replied, a smile that hid something.

"Wh- what are y-"

"We gotta go to a doctor's appointment, remember?"

Her face was twisted in a mixture of confusion and shock, but the administrator at the desk noticed her confusion.

With a suspicious tone, the woman asked, "Ma'am, is everything alright?"

May glanced over to the Engineer and saw him give a small nod. She was a tad uneasy about lying, but something told her that it was the right thing to do.

"Yeah, uh everything's fine. I just didn't know we had an appointment today. Thought it was tomorrow."

The woman gave them one final look, a shrug and said, "Have a good day."

May seemed to notice a recurring theme with the staff of this school. They didn't seem to care.

The two exited the school and when they got out of sight of the administrator, May dropped her stuff and gave him a hug..

"I-I thought you were dead." She said, choking on her words.

He patted her on the back, "Haha, well I did to, but luckily respawn turned on right before I died."

Pulling away, she immediately asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, that there's a long story," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "but to make it short, Grey won, and now I need your help."

"Why me?"

"You see, Gray disbanded us after he won, but I'm going to try and get everyone back together to take down Gray. You see, I think Gray might know more than we think."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Remember how you said that Gray shouldn't have invaded when he did?" she nodded, "Well, it might be because he knew it was a time he would win. What happens when Grey attacks in the game?"

She thought for a moment, "Well, he kills Blutarch and Redmond, fights you guys for a few months, then gets control of Mann co. scattering the team. At least, that's what happens in the comic."

"Wait, there's- never mind. Look he's manage to disband us, but we weren't at war for a few months. It only lasted a few hours."

May's eyes widened. How could such a thing be possible?

She knew the mercenaries were a tough group and could hold down a fort, but losing in only a few hours seemed impossible. The RED's weren't invincible by any means, but they weren't weak enough to only last a short while. The Engineer was right. Gray must have known something.

She came to a realization, her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat, "He knew about me."

"What?" the Engineer said, confused.

"Think about it. If Gray did know more than we thought, than he must have known I was there. Why would he attack at such a random time? He knew that if I was there, you guys would have to get me out of harm's way. Get me back home…It's because of me that Gray won…"

Her face had fallen. May knew that this was all her fault. It was her fault that Gray had won. It was her fault that they had been disbanded. It was her fault that the Engineer had almost died…

May managed to hold back the tears, as she knew now wasn't the time. She might have been riddled with guilt, but she refused to show it. May needed to find a way to redeem herself, and she knew just what she would do.

"I'm coming back with you."

The Engineer sternly said, "Absolutely not. "

"I don't care, I'm going with you."

"Look, May, all I need is for you to help me get general locations on the rest of the guys. I don't want you to come back with me. Ya don't need to be in danger again."

The look on her face and in her eyes was nothing but pure, fiery determination. She would not be budged in her decision.

"Oh I think I can help you find them and I may know where they might be, but I'm the one with the knowledge. I could choose not to give you any information."

"Now May, don't be like that."

May's fist were clenched, and her face was scrunched up. She was going, even if he said no.

"No! You don't realize how much you guys mean to me! Before what happened two months ago, you guys were just fictional characters in a video game that I adored! When I met you guys, it felt like I had known you for years! That game you guys are a part of affected my life way before I even met you. I was obsessed, thinking about it every single god damn day, but now, all those thoughts, might actually have some worth…I can help, please let me come with you."

She was determined and the Engineer could tell. He couldn't leave her behind, because he knew she was able to operate the teleporter and would end up following him. Disabling the teleporter wasn't an option either, because if things got really bad, the teleporter was a last option of escape.

He gave a sigh, then bent down and grabbed mays belongings, handing it back to her. Alright you can come, but you have to listen to everything I say. Respawn won't be online and we don't have the Doc, so we'll need to be careful."

A smile grew across May's face and she gave him a small nod of appreciation before the two headed away from the school.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Preparation**

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><p>Because the teleporter needed to be recharged, the Engineer and May headed back to her house in order to gather a few things and try to come up with a loose plan.<p>

Stepping in front of the door, May laid her backpack down and fished around for her key. Finding it among a compilation of pencils, she pulled it out and unlocked the door.

"OK, my Mom's out of town and my dad won't be home for a few hours, so we should be good."

The Engineer simply nodded. He still wasn't pleased to be taking May with him, but there really wasn't any other choice. Shutting down the teleporter from the other side wasn't an option, in case he needed to return back to May's world in a hurry.

"What should I grab?" she asked.

"Ah, well I'd say some food, maybe a change of clothes and a weapon if you have one."

Unfortunately, May didn't know of a gun that her parents kept around, but it wouldn't hurt to search around.

Dumping the contents of her school bag, May rummaged around through the kitchen cabinets, whatever was easy to eat and didn't require cooking.

"Hey, you want anything?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"You sure?" she said as she looked through the refrigerator, "We have some leftover ribs in the fridge."

The Engineer was a genius behind a grill and a man who practically lived off of meat, so the offer certainly caught his attention.

"On second thought, I'll take those ribs. It's been ages since I've had some good ol' barbeque."

May opened the refrigerator and retrieved the Styrofoam box and placed them into the microwave.

"Just grab them when it's done. I'm going to go get a few other things." She said, heading up the stairs into her room.

Entering the room, she glanced at the computer. It was shut down, but a thought ran through her head.

"Hey, Engie!"

"Yeah?" he replies.

"You, uh, interested in seeing Team Fortress?"

There was silence, followed by a hesitant yes.

"OK, just let me get everything together."

Powering on the computer and waiting for it to power up, she gathered a few necessary pieces of clothing. Pulling open a drawer, she reached back, under all the clothes and pulled out a silver cigarette case with a gold colored watch wrapped around it.

She wrapped the watch around her arm, and pushed one of the buttons to make sure it was still in working order. Sure enough, the device bent the light around her, rendering May invisible. Satisfied that the watch was in working order, she deactivated it.

Holding the cigarette case in her hand, she opened it, and looked at the bare insides. The side meant to hold cigarettes was empty, with the cigarettes being long gone. After returning home, May knew she had no need for the cancer sticks, and felt it best to get rid of them, just in case her parents were to find it.

Pressing a few buttons, May chose the first disguise option that was available and took the form of the loudmouth Bostonian.

Pleased that the two devices still worked, she deactivated the disguise and placed the case in her pocket. Turning back to the computer, she quickly opened Steam and started up the game, letting it load as she walked out of her room.

Returning downstairs, she saw the Engineer hungrily eating the ribs, with a satisfied demeanor. Leaving him be, she went to the basement and began rummaging through boxes.

May couldn't remember a time of when her mother had really been into guns or any sort of weapons, but her father on the other hand, did say that he used to have a few when he was a teenager. This shred of information stuck in May's mind as she went through box after box of junk.

After several minutes, all she managed to find were a pair of nun chucks, a cheap staff, some fake swords and a light saber. Ruling out the light saber, which would have broken before actually hurting someone, May was frustrated at the lack of an actual weapon.

Rummaging through a few more boxes, she slowly made her way back to the more secluded ones. Not bothering to look through the ones that were simply labeled 'Clothes,' May found a box that peaked her interest. In bold, black sharpie scribbled across the top, 'Frank's Knives' identified the box.

May hadn't remembered ever seeing this box in the move, but it didn't matter. Ripping off the packing tape, she opened the box and was greeted with a collection of intricate knives.

"Didn't know Dad had these." She muttered to herself.

Searching through the box, she came across the longest one of the bunch. It was twice the size of a switch blade and sheathed in leather. Picking it up, May unsheathed it and saw that it was as sharp as could be. The stainless steel was unmarked and reflected in the dim light, suggesting that it had never really been used. Placing it back in its sheath, May stuck it in her bag and headed back upstairs.

Everything packed and the Engineer done eating, there was only one thing left to do before heading back to Teufort.

"Ready to see Team Fortress?" May asked, placing her bag on the kitchen table.

Standing up, the Engineer sighed, "Might as well."

The two headed up to May's room, where the main menu of Team Fortress was displayed on the computer. She pulled up a chair for the Engineer and they both sat down, with May in control of the computer.

The screen showed an image of a gloating Scout, with his arms raised, showing off his "muscles."

"Heh, certainly seems like the boy," the Engineer commented.

May skimmed through her favorite servers and chose a normal one that was currently on Badwater. She waited for the game to load, which the Engineer took advantage of.

"So, uh…how's this all work?" he asked.

"The game? Well I can't tell you the technical things, but I can show you some gameplay."

The game loaded, throwing them onto the welcome screen with a cacophony of the battle screeching in the background. Proceeding to the class selection, she hovered the mouse over the Engineer.

Looking over to the real one, she saw that he was somewhat uneasy about watching this game.

"Hey, you sure you wanna see this? Cause if not, that's all good." She asked.

"It's not every day that you get to see a game that may or may not have dictated how your life went. It's downright strange and actually kinda frightening, but you know what they say, curiosity killed the cat." He replied, leaning back in the chair.

May shrugged and proceeded on. Dumped into respawn, May didn't plan on actually fighting much, but just show the Engineer what he did in the game. She hovered over his icon, making the Engineer's model appear on the screen.

"Damn…that's pretty darn accurate," he said, looking down at himself.

Walking slightly out of the base, May brought the PDA up and selected the dispenser, placing on the ground, allowing it to start building.

"I'm actually pretty bad at Engineer." She said, with a light chuckle as she made the virtual Engineer bang away at the machine.

May continued to build stuff, explaining that to upgrade, you had to have metal and all the other basics. As the game went by, the virtual Engineer eventually died when a lone spy sabotaged the buildings and backstabbed him. Thinking that she might be overloading the Engineer's brain, May decided that it was best to quit the game. However, before she could, the computer began to produce the sound of a telephone ringing. Looking at the bottom right of the monitor, May saw who was calling and groaned.

"Great…"

"What is it?"

"It's Emile. I need to answer this. Just stay quiet, I'll get rid of him quickly."

She clicked the black text box, bringing up the overlay, and answered.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey, May. What's up?" a voice asked from the other end.

"Oh nothing much." She said, in the most unconvincing voice.

"Is something wrong?"

His voice sounded concerned, but May didn't want to tell him what was going on.

"No, nothing's wrong." She replied, rubbing her forehead.

"Come on May, don't lie. Does this have something to do with that whole event you claimed happened?"

"Uh…"

The Engineer looked at May, mouth slightly opened, confused. She hadn't planned on telling the Engineer this but…

May put the call on hold and said, "I told him."

"Now, why on Earth would ya tell him that?"

"I had to tell someone and my parents wouldn't have believed me!" she responded, trying to defend herself.

"Now did he believe it?"

She frowned, which told him all he needed to know.

"I didn't think so."

"Look, I've been trying to convince him, but he just thinks I'm crazy."

The Engineer sighed. As much as he was about keeping this whole fiasco a secret, he saw no harm in a boy knowing the truth, that is, if he believed it.

"Would ya like me to convince him?"

"You'd do that?" she said, smiling.

"I might as well. We still have about an hour before the teleporter is back up and running."

"Oh thank you!" she squealed, turning the call back on, "Hey Emile get on Skype and turn your camera on. I'm about to prove you wrong."

She ended the call, turned on Skype and began to video call Emile. The waiting noise settled down, and two video screens popped up. One showed Emile and the other showed the Engineer and May.

Almost instantly, Emile was thrown into shock.

"No way! Come on that has to be fake!" he said.

"Do I look fake to you boy?"

"Emile, we have to go help the rest of the mercenaries." May stated.

"Wait, what?" he asked, confused.

"I'll explain later, but do you believe me now?"

"Uh, I guess so. I mean the Engineer is pretty good proof, but…"

Annoyed, May reached into her pocket and pulled out the silver cigarette case.

"I wasn't planning on showing you this, but…"

Like before, she pressed a few buttons and was cloaked in a grey smoke, before emerging as the Sniper.

Emile almost fell back in his chair, but managed to balance himself and squinted at the screen, not believing what he was seeing.

"Holy shit!"

"Now do ya believe me?" she said, the Australians voice masking her own.

"Uh, yea, I think that's pretty good proof." He said, still staring at the screen with wide eyes.

May fiddled with the kit and the disguise faded. She was slightly annoyed at the boy's stubbornness, but it was something she couldn't be mad at. If someone were to tell her that a fictional character existed, along with a fictional world, she would be hesitant to believe them.

"So…was that really you in the game?" Emile asked, recalling both what he had experienced and what she had told him.

She nodded, "Yeah, I told you that pitiful Medic was me."

"That's awesome! How was it being in a real battle?" he enthusiastically asked.

"It's not as great as you would think. Terrifying really." She said, frowning.

"Oh come on, it couldn't have been that bad."

"You try going through respawn…" May muttered.

"What did you say?" Emile asked.

"Nothing. Look we really gotta get going, so I'll talk to you later."

"Wait, what are yo-"

May cut Emile off by ending the call and shutting the computer down.

"Wasn't that just a tad bit rude?" the Engineer asked, leaning back in his chair.

"It was the only way to get rid of him. Look, can we just head to the factory, warehouse, whatever the teleporter is in?" she said as she grabbed the backpack.

"You got somethin' for the boy don't ya?"

"I am not getting into any crap like that, so let's just go, alright?"

"I'm no fool, I can see it, but if that's how ya wanna be, then fine. Let's get a move on."

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><p><strong>Sorry guys, I know this wasn't an exciting (and rather pointless) chapter, but things will pick up (whenever I update and actually write)<strong>


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